In nature, organisms can build complex inorganic micro- and nanostructures by a process termed “biomineralization.” Natural biological systems have evolved diverse structures, e.g., bones, teeth, mollusk shells and magnetosomes, which exhibit greatly increased structural integrity compared to the organic scaffold from which they are formed. Nature's design principles are very useful as they can provide new insights that allows engineers to create new inorganic nanomaterials via environmentally benign routes.
The ability of certain biomolecules to direct the growth and organization of inorganic solids has been noticed in naturally-occurring biomineralization systems. (E. Baeuerlein, Biomineralization: From Biology to Biotechnology and Medical Application, Wiley-VCH, Weinheim, N.Y., 2000. S. Mann, Biomineralization: Principles and Concepts in Bioinorganic Materials Chemistry, Oxford chemistry masters, 5, Oxford University Press, Oxford, N.Y., 2001.) It has also been demonstrated that certain viruses can serve as a template for the synthesis of inorganic nanostructures by identifying and engineering peptide aptamers expressed on the surface of viruses. (S. W. Lee, C. Mao, C. E. Flynn, and A. M. Belcher, “Ordering of quantum dots using genetically engineered viruses,” Science, Vol. 296, No. 5569 (2002) pp. 892-895; C. Mao, C. E. Flynn, A. Hayhurst, R. Sweeney, J. Qi, G. Georgiou, B. Iverson, and A. M. Belcher, “Viral assembly of oriented quantum dot nanowires,” Proc Natl Acad Sci USA, Vol. 100, No. 12 (2003) pp. 6946-6951.) It has also been found that two-dimensional self-assembly of viruses can be utilized to prepare unique viral thin-films that are useful in building battery electrodes via biomineralization. (K. T. Nam, D. W. Kim, P. J. Yoo, C.-Y. Chiang, N. Meethong, P. T. Hammond, Y.-M. Chiang, A. M. Belcher, “Virus enabled synthesis and assembly of nanowires for lithium ion battery electrodes,” Science, Vol. 312, No. 5775 (2006) pp. 885-888.) These relatively new technologies offer potential for further development of advanced biotechnological devices useful in the fields of renewable energy, medical technologies, electronics, optical systems, and materials.